OpenAI Praises Amazon Deal While Calling Out Microsoft Limits

TLDR

• OpenAI revenue chief Denise Dresser sent a staff memo praising the Amazon partnership as a key enterprise growth driver
• Dresser wrote that the Microsoft deal has “limited our ability to meet enterprises where they are”
• Amazon announced plans to invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI in late February 2026
• OpenAI’s enterprise business makes up 40% of revenue and is on track to match its consumer business by year-end
• Dresser criticized Anthropic’s strategy, calling it built on “fear, restriction, and the idea that a small group of elites should control AI”

OpenAI’s revenue chief Denise Dresser sent an internal memo to staff on Sunday, praising the company’s new partnership with Amazon and saying its long-running deal with Microsoft has held the company back.

The memo, viewed by CNBC, comes about six weeks after Amazon announced plans to invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI as part of a strategic partnership.

Amazon Web Services’ Bedrock platform gives businesses access to major AI models, including OpenAI’s, through a single cloud service. OpenAI said demand since the Amazon deal was announced has been “frankly staggering.”

Microsoft has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI since 2019. Despite describing the relationship as core and strategic, both companies have moved into each other’s territory. Microsoft added OpenAI to its list of competitors in a 2024 annual report.

OpenAI has already started working with other cloud providers including CoreWeave, Google, and Oracle for additional capacity.

Enterprise Battle Heats Up

OpenAI is pushing hard into the enterprise market, where Anthropic’s Claude model has built a strong lead. Google Gemini is also competing aggressively in the same space.

Dresser told CNBC earlier this month that enterprise now accounts for 40% of OpenAI’s total revenue. She said it is on track to reach parity with the consumer side of the business by the end of the year.

At AI industry conference HumanX in San Francisco last week, Anthropic’s Claude was described by Glean CEO Arvind Jain as “Claude mania,” saying “it has become a religion.”

OpenAI Takes Aim at Anthropic

Anthropic announced a compute deal with Google and Broadcom for “multiple gigawatts” earlier this month.

OpenAI was valued at over $850 billion in a late March fundraising round. Anthropic was valued at $380 billion a month earlier. Both companies are preparing for possible IPOs this year.

Dresser was hired as chief revenue officer in December. She previously served as CEO of Slack and held senior roles at Salesforce.

The post OpenAI Praises Amazon Deal While Calling Out Microsoft Limits appeared first on CoinCentral.